Modern vehicles are designed to provide a substantial degree of safety to passengers. One way in which this is done is by including air bags to cushion the passengers during collisions. Air bags were first employed in front of either the driver, front seat passenger or both. Side curtain air bags have also been introduced and protect the vehicle occupants from injury during a side impact collision, rollover collision, or other accident where the passengers are made to move laterally.
Because a side curtain airbag must cover more area that a typical dashboard air bag, the side curtain air bag is larger in size. However, such an air bag must be inflated at a speed that is comparable to dashboard-configured air bags. As a result, the inflator size and gas output velocity used for the side curtain air bag is typically much larger than that of a dashboard-configured inflator and must be strategically placed. Also, because the side curtain air bag is larger than dashboard-configured airbags, the direction of the deployment must be controlled to optimize its effectiveness during a collision. Controlling placement and deployment direction is rendered more difficult due to limited space along a vehicle's roofline, where the air bag is stored.
Additionally, unlike dashboard mounted air bags that deploy directly toward a vehicle occupant, it is desirable for a side curtain air bag to deploy downward, and as close to the side interior of the vehicle as possible. This path avoids an inadvertent collision with the vehicle occupant while the airbag is still in the process of deploying and also ensures the most significant coverage of the side interior of the vehicle.
What is desired is an air bag deflector bracket that assists in deployment by keeping a deploying air bag fully within the passenger compartment and close to the side interior of a vehicle and also has a configuration that allows the air bag inflator to be placed in an optimal position.